Organic rye is finding a home with hogs

The University of Minnesota’s West Central Research and Outreach Center at Morris, Minn., is home to many research projects which evaluate non-conventional ag production practices. The University’s organic dairy herd, organic swine herd, and several innovative alternative energy facilities operate at the site.

Swine scientists Yuzhi Li and Lee Johnston are currently collaborating with a variety of University subject matter experts to learn how to substitute organic hybrid rye into a conventional corn-soy diet for organic pigs and how the rye affects pigs’ growth efficiency and the taste of the meat harvested from them.

In addition, U of M Extension Nutrient Management specialist Melissa Wilson is studying the value of swine manure by conducting adjacent field trials.

This experiment is fairly unique in that it’s evaluating the full cycle — from hybrid rye, to feed and bedding, to animals, to manure, and back to hybrid rye. The full experiment will be repeated again this year.

Hybrid

Rye

Hybrid rye is a small grain that’s gotten a lot of attention lately as an option to expand a conventional crop rotation or as a cover crop. U of M Small Grains Specialist Jochum Wiersma discussed hybrid rye’s value across Minnesota this winter during his small grains update meetings.

Rye grows well in our upper Midwest climate, has delivered excellent grain yields, and produces abundant top-quality straw. Rye has to be planted following a legume like soybeans; but can also be chopped early and used as a forage for cattle feed.

As a substitute feed ingredient for pigs, rye provides 92 percent of the energy of corn, which is higher than barley (87 percent) and oats (71 percent). In comparison, wheat does better with 97 percent of the energy of corn. Rye also contains intrinsic phytase, which increase the digestibility of phosphorus and therefore reduces the amount of phosphorus in manure.

The organic hybrid rye selected for this study was Tayo winter rye, chosen for its high yield potential and hardiness. In late September 2021, 17 acres of rye were planted at WCROC at a seeding rate of 800,000 seeds per acre. That crop was harvested in late July of 2022, and yielded 104 bushels per acre at 13 percent moisture. The straw yielded 1.8 tons per acre; organic bedding for the project pigs and more.

Organic pigs were born in July and September of 2022, and have grown through the study and been harvested. The organic rye was substituted 50 percent for corn in a conventional corn-soy grow-finish diet. Current results show no difference in growth performance between the rye diets and corn-soybean meal diets.